Soul Calibur 2
Soul Calibur II Soulcalibur II (ソウルキャリバーII Sōrukyaribā Tsū?) is a fighting game developed and published by Namco and the third installment in the Soul series. Soul Calibur is the name of the holy sword, created to battle the evil sword Soul Edge, which the games' storylines revolve around. The home version of the game features Heihachi Mishima from Tekken, Link from The Legend of Zelda, Spawn from the comic book series by Todd McFarlane, and Necrid, a new character created by Todd McFarlane. Each of the first three characters is exclusive to one of the three consoles the game was ported to (the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox, respectively), while Necrid is present in all three home versions. Gameplay Modes and features Modes and other features added to the Home Versions: Soulcalibur II presented the normal modes from most fighting games: Arcade, Team Battle Mode (similar to arcade, but with teams of up to 8 characters and without cutscenes or endings), Time Attack (fight against the clock to gain records), Survival Battle and Training Mode. There are also "Extra" versions of these modes, intended to allow the use of the Extra Weapons. Worth mentioning is that Arcade's 7th battle is called a "Destined Battle", a battle predefined that never changes. Each character has one according to their story, and are shared by groups of two (for example: Mitsurugi→Taki, Taki→Mitsurugi) with the exception of the console-exclusive characters. A returning feature from Soul Edge is the inclusion of Extra Weapons. Instead of Soul Edge's system of different stats, this one is based on power %, defense % and special abilities (drains energy, pass through defense, etc.). Each character has 12 different weapons, from the standard (basic) weapons for 1P and 2P to the powerful "Ultimate Weapon". Also, each character was granted a Soul Edge version of their arms and a "Joke Weapon", weapons with bad stats and effect, and with unique, and funny, hit sounds. Each weapon is given a backstory in the "Weapon Gallery". The Arcade version has a unique mode called "Conquest Mode". Conquest Mode allows the player to pick an army, fight enemies and gain experience points, allowing it to increase the level of the selected player. "Weapon Master Mode" takes the core system from "Conquest Mode" and expands upon it. This mode, made in a similar fashion to Soul Edge's "Edge Master Mode" and Soulcalibur's "Mission Mode", presents a history set in an alternate world, while the player moves in a map divided in "regions" (named after stars) and fights enemies to gain experience points (which raises the "rank" of the character) and money (which can be used to buy weapons, art, costumes and videos). The mode has 10 normal chapters, 4 sub-chapters and 2 extra chapters as well as Extra-Missions (alternate version of normal missions). The plot of the mode puts the player into the role of a swordsman searching for Soul Edge, who suddenly is faced against a powerful mad knight named Veral (who takes the form of Nightmare, then Inferno), who searches for Soul Edge for his own desires. As in Soulcalibur, there is a "Museum", containing character artwork, various videos (like Arcade Intro or WMM intro and Ending) and Weapon Exhibition (or "katas"). There is also the "Profile Viewer" (to see character's stories) and "Battle Theater" (to see CPU vs CPU battles). Like before, some characters are granted with 3rd costumes, purchased in Weapon Master Mode. Out of the 25 selectable characters, only 13 were granted a 3rd costume: Astaroth, Cassandra, Ivy, Mitsurugi, Nightmare, Raphael, Seung Mina, Sophitia, Taki, Talim, Voldo and Xianghua. It should also be noted that Link has four costumes (Green, Red, Blue, and a lavender-like color) and Assassin, Berserker and Lizardman each have 6 different costumes (3 color edits of their 2 standard costumes). The game also featured the option to hear the characters speak in Japanese or English. Characters Four new characters were introduced in Soulcalibur II: Cassandra (voiced by Debbie Rogers the daughter of Fred Rogers), who is the sister of the Character, Sophitia. Raphael (voiced by Paul Jennings), Talim (voiced by Julie Parker), and Yun-seong (voiced by Jim Singer, the younger brother of Carrie Savage). However, while Cassandra and Yun-seong's fighting styles are derived from established characters Sophitia and Hwang Seong-gyeong, Raphael and Talim's fighting styles are entirely unique. Charade, like his predecessors Edge Master and Inferno, switches his style to match existing characters' movelists with each individual round of fighting. Each of the home versions also included Necrid, who was not included in the arcade version of Soulcalibur II. Necrid, like Spawn, was personally designed by comic book artist Todd McFarlane. Other characters are Voldo, Ivy, and Nightmare. Rounding out the characters were returning fighters Seung Mina and Sophitia from both Soul Edge and Soulcalibur. Lizardman returns, but is only playable in VS Mode and certain portions of Weapon Master. From the Soulcalibur character roster, the ones that did not return for Soulcalibur II as characters themselves were Hwang Seong-gyeong, Nathaniel "Rock" Adams, and Edge Master. Inferno is in the game, only this time, he is not a playable character. Nightmare's 3rd costume is Siegfried (though he is still referred to as Nightmare), while Assassin and Berserker play extremely similar to Hwang and Rock. Hwang, Siegfried, and Rock, however, would all return as fully playable characters in the following game.